Thank you for visiting the NU MedX (MED-X) Lab, where
advanced engineering research is conducted with focus on applications
in medicine and
health. Our interests in medicine and health include medical sensors, sensor-rich systems, patient care
technology, and disease detection. Our current projects include smart
robotic surgery systems, smart tools for non-invasive cardiac surgery,
smart skin for prosthesis, training systems for medical doctors, and
biochips for medical diagnosis.

Medicine and health are important for our society,
especially as the aging population grows in the US, world population
increases, and the health-care systems are challenged financially. Our
work is aimed at increasing the quality of health care, reducing the
cost, and enhancing access to health care by individuals.

The development of sensors is crucial for such
vision. On the device side, we are developing biologically inspired sensors -
sensors with functions, structures or performance based on inspiration from
biology. Biology offers exquisite examples of sensors and
sensory intelligence. These have been the subjects of
observation of biology for hundreds of years. With the advent of
micro and nanotechnology, it now becomes possible to build
engineering-equivalent of biological sensors. Through
bioinspired sensors research, we seek to advance engineering as well
as deepen understanding of complex biological systems. Examples
include artificial haircell sensors, active haircell sensors, multimodal tactile sensor skin,
and artificial lateral line sensors.

Our group develops novel and efficient fabrication
technologies at the microscale and the nanoscale. Often we
involve both traditional semiconductor materials as well as
non-conventional polymer materials.

The group is organized under Dr. Chang Liu,
holding joint faculty positions in mechanical engineering and
electrical engineering departments. Members of the group come from many
interdisciplinary background, including EE, ME, BioEngr, Material
Science, and medicine. We collaborate widely with people from
many different fields, including animal biology, materials, signal
processing, control, integrated circuit, fluid mechanics, chemistry,
and nanotechnology.